Owing to the pandemic, and in the interests of public health, there will be no Winter Solstice gathering at Stonehenge this year. The Winter Solstice sunset and sunrise will instead be live-streamed from the stones on the evening of 20 December and the morning of the 21 December. It will be easy and free to watch on the English Heritage social media channels.
Sunset 20/12/2020
Winter Solstice 2020 LIVE from Stonehenge
Stonehenge is perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument. It was built in several stages. The first monument was an early henge monument, about 5,000 years ago. The unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. In the early Bronze Age many burial mounds were built nearby.
Today, together with Avebury, Stonehenge forms the heart of a World Heritage Site, with a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments.
The earliest structures known in the immediate area are four or five pits, three of which appear to have held large pine ‘totem-pole like’ posts erected in the Mesolithic period, between 8500 and 7000 BC. It is not known how these posts relate to the later monument of Stonehenge.
It is possible that features such as the Heel Stone and the low mound known as the North Barrow were early components of Stonehenge, but the earliest known major event was the construction of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank, built about 3000 BC. This enclosed an area about 100 metres in diameter, and had two entrances. It was an early form of henge monument.
Sunrise 21/12/2020
Winter Solstice 2020 LIVE from Stonehenge
English Heritage is a charity that cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites – from world-famous prehistoric sites to grand medieval castles, from Roman forts on the edges of the empire to a Cold War bunker. Through these places, the Organisation brings the story of England to life for over 10 million visitors each year.
